1969 in literature
The year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events * The first Booker Prize is awarded. * "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in order to prove that sex-filled trash sells. It did. New books *Paul Gallico- The Poseidon Adventure *Jorge Amado - ''Tenda dos Milagres (''Tent of Miracles) *Kingsley Amis - The Green Man *Poul Anderson - Satan's World *William H. Armstrong - Sounder *Penelope Ashe - Naked Came the Stranger *Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman *Ray Bradbury - I Sing the Body Electric *Melvyn Bragg - The Hired Man *William S. Burroughs - The Last Words of Dutch Schultz *Eric Carle - The Very Hungry Caterpillar *Agatha Christie - Hallowe'en Party *Merton H. Coleman - That Godless Woman *March Cost - The Veiled Sultan *Michael Crichton - The Andromeda Strain *John Cheever - Bullet Park *A. J. Cronin - A Pocketful of Rye *L. Sprague de Camp - The Golden Wind *Marion Eames - Y Stafell Ddirgel (The Secret Room) *John Fowles - The French Lieutenant's Woman *George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman *Graham Greene - Travels with My Aunt *Sam Greenlee - The Spook Who Sat By the Door *Günter Grass - Örtlich betäubt (Local Anaesthetic) *Frank Herbert - Dune Messiah *Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter - Conan of Cimmeria *David H. Keller - The Folsom Flint and Other Curious Tales *Ursula Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness *Elmore Leonard - The Big Bounce *Doris Lessing - The Four-Gated City *H. P. Lovecraft and Others - Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos *V. S. Naipaul - A House for Mr Biswas *John D. MacDonald - Dress Her in Indigo *Yukio Mishima - Runaway Horses *Michael Moorcock - Behold the Man *C. L. Moore - Jirel of Joiry *Vladimir Nabokov - Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle *Don Pendleton - War Against The Mafia *Chaim Potok - The Promise *Manuel Puig - Little Painted Mouths *Mario Puzo - The Godfather *Ellery Queen - The Campus Murders *Pauline Réage - Retour à Roissy *Mordecai Richler - The Street *Harold Robbins - The Inheritors *Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint *Irwin Shaw - Rich Man, Poor Man *Raymond Spence - Nothing Black But A Cadillac *Rex Stout - Death of a Dude *Edward Streeter - Ham Martin, Class of '17 *Jacqueline Susann - The Love Machine *Theodore Taylor - The Cay *Colin Thiele - Blue Fin *Jack Vance **''The Dirdir'' **''Emphyrio'' **''Servants of the Wankh'' *Mario Vargas Llosa - Conversation in the Cathedral *Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five *Irving Wallace - The Seven Minutes *Roger Zelazny **''Creatures of Light and Darkness'' **''Damnation Alley'' **''Isle of the Dead'' New drama *Athol Fugard - Boesman and Lena *Joe Orton - What the Butler Saw (posthumously published) *Dennis Potter - Son of Man (television) Poetry *James Schuyler - Freely Espousing Non-fiction *Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. *H. Rap Brown - Die Nigger Die! *Henri Charriere - Papillon *L. Sprague de Camp and George H. Scithers, editors - The Conan Swordbook. *Antonia Fraser - Mary, Queen of Scots. *Peter Geach - God and the Soul. *Peter Maas - The Valachi Papers *Desmond Morris - The Human Zoo Births *January - David Mitchell, novelist *January 17 - Michael Moynihan, journalist and publisher *March 19 - Tim Durant, singer *May 6 - Emmanuel Larcenet, comics author *November 3 - Rik Woods, poet *November 13 - John Belluso, dramatist *''date unknown'' **David Auburn, dramatist **Adrian Goldsworthy, military historian **John Harris, journalist Deaths * January 11 - Richmal Crompton, author * March 11 - John Wyndham, British author * March 26 - John Kennedy Toole, author * March 27 - B. Traven, writer * May 4 - Osbert Sitwell, novelist, poet, brother of Edith Sitwell and Sacheverell Sitwell * July 24 - Witold Gombrowicz, playwright and novelist * August 14 - Leonard Woolf, political theorist and husband of Virginia Woolf * September 6 - Gavin Maxwell, naturalist and author * September 20 - Elinor Brent-Dyer, Chalet School author * October 21 - Jack Kerouac, author * date unknown - Vivian de Sola Pinto, poet and memoirist * date unknown - Greye La Spina, writer Awards * Nobel Prize for Literature: Samuel Beckett Canada * See 1969 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. France * Prix Goncourt: Félicien Marceau, Creezy * Prix Médicis: Hélène Cixous, Dedans United Kingdom * Booker Prize: P. H. Newby - Something to Answer For * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: K. M. Peyton, The Edge of the Cloud * Cholmondeley Award: Derek Walcott, Tony Harrison * Eric Gregory Award: Gavin Bantock, Jeremy Hooker, Jenny King, Neil Powell, Landeg E. White * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Elizabeth Bowen, Eva Trout * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Stevie Smith United States * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Drama: Tennessee Williams * Hugo Award: John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar * Nebula Award: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Lloyd Alexander, The High King * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Howard Sackler, The Great White Hope * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: N. Scott Momaday - House Made of Dawn * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: George Oppen: Of Being Numerous Elsewhere *Premio Nadal: Francisco García Pavón (Las hermanas coloradas *Viareggio Prize: Fulvio Tomizza, L'albero dei sogni References * 1969: The Year Everything Changed by Rob Kirkpatrick. Skyhorse Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-60239-366-0. External links * Category:Years in literature Category:History of literature Category:Literature by year